The Defiants - InDIYana 2019 Build

[KEtheredge87]

Alright guys - Last night I made some better quality and better supported curve templates with the router table. These ought to match up in height exactly to one another when I use them (maybe tomorrow?) In order to remove as many table-related variables as possible, I bought a brand new 1/2" particleboard piece (generally my router spoil-board), and set everything up on my tablesaw top. That's easily the flattest surface I have in the shop. The last detail to work out is supporting these big sheets of 3/4" MDF and locking the cabinet in place on the table top. Shouldn't be too hard, just need clamps and/or screws in the right place.

With the improved "version 2.0" tooling mostly complete, I spent tonight pretending I was the "Cake Boss" with Evercoat bodyfiller. My theory was to slather a few layers of this stuff on to build up the side of the cabinet that trimmed too deep, so then I can router off the excess to achieve a flat, level top surface again. I was satisfied with the right corner of that cabinet, so I left it "un-iced" as my reference surface for setting my router bit depth. Everything else got a decent coating to make sure I had at least the 1/8" of space built up that I needed to replace.

I'm letting all that stuff completely harden overnight. Instructions say it's good to sand within 20 minutes, but given how thick I laid it on (even though I gave it time between coats), I still want to let it set up overnight. I'll be sleeping anyway... Win/Win!

[Kevin K.]

Thanks Kevin!

"... they call em bandsaws" <-- that was awesome! I had the image in my head of you revealing a magical land hidden inside Rockler and Woodcraft stores where all the best tools were kept at the absurdly low prices.

If I make a habit of this video thing, I should invest in a GoPro or something rather than put all that stuff on my phone's SSD. Also... yeah... I would LOVE a full size bandsaw! The little 10" WEN bandsaw I bought does most of the bandsaw-style things I need, but there's definitely room for improvement. You're right... If I could have fit this cabinet into the bandsaw saw AND confidently held it to cut a chunk off it would have saved a whole lot of time!

Might check with the manufacturer of your bandsaw to see if they offer a riser block. Here's a picture of the one on the Delta I use. Been using this model for the last 20 years, awesome saws. With the 6" riser, there's a full 12" cut capability (second pic). I slapped the fence guide on the saw also for the picture, it really comes in handy sometimes. With your engineering background, I'm betting you could modify yours even if the riser isn't available from the manufacturer. This was one of the reasons I wanted to share the pictures with you. But don't let the idea of this get in the way of your current project, lol.

[KEtheredge87]

Thanks Kevin K. , I hadn't seen one of those before, but I like it! Wen does not seem to make a riser block, so I'd have to DIY one. The saw is $250 stock, so I wonder if I'd be better off upgrading at some point rather than trying to chop and hack this saw together. Fun things to think about!

[KEtheredge87]

Hello Everyone - Defiants Curved Top - Part 2

I made a YouTube follow-up for this part of the project showing how I fixed one of the cabinets that did not cut quite right with my method. As discussed above, the process failure here is more on the tooling setup I chose with two templates that are secured/supported in the air rather than solid all the way down to the table. All it takes is a little error in my measurements to mess that up. The new tooling works the same as the old tooling - just with less opportunity for me to mess it up. I wish I had taken a little more time to make my tooling in this manner rather than cobbling something together. Oh well... we live and learn!

After the video was completed, I put some bondo glazing putty in the little pinholes rather than trying to do a whole "appropriate" layer of Evercoat. Tonight I'll finish that process and hopefully start prepping my front baffle blanks. I'm really ready to move forward!

[xmax]

Did you sand off my artwork?

[KEtheredge87]

Did you sand off my artwork?

Haha... your artwork has actually been enshrined in the first YouTube video for all eagle eyed observers to find as an easter egg. I had to use the template pieces you made for me as templates to make the bigger MDF parts when my original tooling plans weren't as robust as I thought they'd be.

[xmax]

Oh I see it now and it's still beyond reproach. I decided my next speakers are going to be made entirely
from Bondo to save time.

[KEtheredge87]

Putting a full 15" x 18" x 14" block of Bondo into a 5-axis CNC mill would be a glorious experiment... arguably a misuse of either technology, unless it works out great, then you're a pioneer! Trying to machine that much Bondo... what a mess! I'd pay to watch that.

[xmax]

I love it!

[4thtry]

Cool project and vids. Not sure what you are using, but if your camera has manual focus, ISO, F stop, etc., you might be able to avoid the auto focus problem by switching over to manual. Just a thought.

[KEtheredge87]

Cool project and vids. Not sure what you are using, but if your camera has manual focus, ISO, F stop, etc., you might be able to avoid the auto focus problem by switching over to manual. Just a thought.

Thanks Bill! I was using my Google Pixel 2 XL smartphone for those videos, which unfortunately does not seem to have manual focus controls. Occasionally I think about getting a GoPro for stuff like this, but I never actually commit to it.

[KEtheredge87]

Hey Guys - Quick update for you all.

I'm still putting the finishing touches on the curved tops. I liked Ben's suggestion of skinning the top with a additional layer of 1/8" HDF, so "Operation Top Hat" was born. I scuff sanded the Evercoat filler to 100 grit before applying the titebond wood glue and letting things clamp up overnight. Of course, this piece also wanted to slide around on me while gluing, so I wrapped a piece of MDF in saran wrap and clamped it tot he front as a slide-stop. Worked out great!

While that was clamped and gluing up, I decided to go ahead and slather some Evercoat on the top of the first cabinet I curved. The more I thought about it, I wasn't convinced that I would have the same curvature on that cabinet since it was cut with my original tooling attempt. I couldn't abide that, so I put the work in and built it up just to shave it down at the right curvature. My shop floor is super slippery now, which is not good. Even vacuuming with the shopvac wasn't enough to relieve the slip-factor, so I'll actually have to mop the floor in there! That never happens...

In preparation for starting the front baffle work, I've been studying the table saw and taper jig bevel method and will be making a sled for that soon. I also went back to my CAD files and included the new 1/8" top hat to make sure none of my bevel angles needed to change. Lastly I confirmed locations for grille magnets, even though I don't like grilles all that much. I suppose I like grilles more than punched in tweeters, so that seems like some future effort well spent for insurance!

Happy Saturday!

[Billet]

My shop floor is super slippery now, which is not good. Even vacuuming with the shopvac wasn't enough to relieve the slip-factor, so I'll actually have to mop the floor in there! That never happens...

I am pretty sure that most body filler contains talc, that might be why it is so slippery. To reduce the amount of dust, you could use a Surform file to remove the high spots before the filler fully hardens. This is commonly done in auto body repair.

[KEtheredge87]

It's been a busy last few days both in the shop and outside the shop... so here's some updates. Part 1 - Operation Top Hat is complete. I now have one layer of 1/8" HDF glued to the top of both cabinets as a way to avoid any potential ghosting of the MDF layers through the final veneer. Technically I could do the same thing with the rear and bottom, but I really want to move forward, and I'm not worried about ghosting on those surfaces.

The cabinets are also nearly equivalent in height and curvature now, which satisfies my engineering OCD. It'll never be 100% perfect just because of my assembly technique and small differences in the sanding/leveling process, but this is definitely good enough!

[KEtheredge87]

Updates Part 2 - The Front Baffles Begin!

I'm using a dowel method to attach the front baffles to the cabinets. In order to make the flush cuts for sizing, I drilled 1/2" deep size F holes (just barely over 0.25" in diameter) in the cabinet, and used 0.25" transfer pins to mark the rough sized front baffles. A few whacks with a deadblow mallet transferred the center locations for the dowels to the baffles, which were drilled with the same F drill bit... this time just a little more than 1/2" deep. I'm using six fluted 1/4" dowels to locate the baffles, and once they were in place, the baffles were marked with a pencil to show the rough cut line, then a bandsaw was used to trim excess material. Final flush cut was done on the router table with the cabinet sitting on top of the baffle as the template.

I made two baffles per cabinet in case I screw one up as I make faceted cuts, so I have four baffle blanks for two cabinets. Next steps will be creating the facet jig and marking the baffles for embedding grille magnets. Making progress!